Artworks Still for Sale at Basel

BASEL, Switzerland—Saturday is a strange day at Art Basel. On the one hand, it’s the weekend, so a whole new audience shows up. By opening time at 11 a.m. this morning there were hundreds of people waiting in line on the Messeplatz. On the other hand, a lot of the dealers, and their staffs, are close to exhaustion. Tuesday’s bright young things are in many cases sprawled over their desks, simply ignoring visitors, drinking coffee, eating lunch, and even smoking! (Though admittedly that was in a French gallery’s booth.)

And despite all the talk about booming business earlier in the week, the fair is far from being sold out. Sure, some dealers have sold everything and have even begun re-hanging, but others, a lot more than I had expected, still have plenty of stuff they’ll be taking home with them. Many dealers complained to me about collectors reserving work and then changing their minds. The mood here isn’t like it was toward the end of the Armory Show, by any means.

ARTINFO’s Editors’ Picks for today (click on the photo gallery to the left) comprise pieces that I thought would have sold by now, but haven’t. They come at all price points. And they are really just a sampling of what's still available at the fair. Not everyone wanted to be included. “I don’t want to advertise the fact that I haven’t sold it,” one dealer told me. “I’m not even sure how I’m going to explain to the artist that I haven’t sold it.”

I’m not sure I want to be the one to say this, but maybe the market has peaked after all.